A blogger's tale: Chinese shrimp ordeal

http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=25672883&sort=threaded

I really didn't know which board this was best suited for, but this is as good a place as any. I have been nearly bed-ridden the past couple weeks, and I feel like venting a bit, because I don't know if anyone here really knows how vulnerable our food supply is, and my poor health has been proof of that. I've spent much more time here on the message boards because I couldn't do much other than sit around. Bear in mind I had not been to see a doctor for illness since early 2000 (7 1/2 years ago), so it is unusual for me to get sick. Before this experience, Shrimp has always been my favorite food, and I had never had an allergic reaction to food.

I got sick from shrimp imported from China. Either melamine or fluoroquinones, or both. The exact cause was not verified. My doctor only treated me for the resulting bronchitis/pneumonia symptoms I experienced from my resistance being down, but I'm past it now. I had experienced kidney pain, which melamine could cause, and my initial prescribed anti-biotic wasn't strong enough. The doctor had to prescribe a stronger one. Fluoroquinones create resistance to anti-biotics. I had eaten at Captain D's regularly over the past year, as my family liked to go there on family night, and I would normally get the shrimp. In addition, I ate twice in a short period, on June 19 and 21 (shrimp lover's meals both times- 32 pieces of shrimp total), and shortly after the second time had a severe reaction, and became quite sick for two weeks after that. I emailed Captain D's corporate office and received their standard “legal” response, but they did confirm that some of their supply is from China. I had to call the national Poison Control hotline to log my case in also. At the time I ate there, the news had not yet hit about the Chinese seafood scare.

As I've gone through this “ordeal” I have also read up on what is going on with our Chinese food supply, and here are the things you must know:

1. Seafood (obviously). Verify it is not from farmed Chinese sources. Supposedly the open ocean caught seafood, exported by China is okay. It is when they farm it inland that they use those chemicals, and that is shrimp or catfish especially. Here is what the two chemicals do:
Melamine poisoning – can cause bladder cancer, also kidney stones.
Fluoroquinones – strong anti-biotic, but when passed through food in this way, can cause you to develop harmful immunities to anti-biotics, preventing their effectiveness in future treatments.

2. Cough Syrup. Don't buy any cheap cough syrup. The same ingredient in the Chinese toothpaste has been found in cheap foreign cough syrup (deaths in Panama). No incidents reported here in the U.S., but no one has come forward to say all U.S. supplies are free and clear either.

3. Vitamin C. Begin to take a critical look at ingredients and labeling, Vitamin C is only one of many to watch. The Chinese control 90% of the market on the chemical used for this, and there are rumors of harmful metal content. The U.S. food and beverage companies may have to begin quality testing of the Vitamin C additive, rather than giving it a free ride. This is a developing story, but it appears that the testing for additives is not the same as for food by the FDA.

4. This list is longer, but you just don't know it yet, remember that.
“Since U.S. laws don't require food and drug sellers to label products with the country of origin of ingredients, it's impossible for consumers to know where food or supplements are coming from, not to mention what factory produced them.” See Seattle Times news link below.

Last, the leader in China who was their equivalent of our FDA chief was executed yesterday. That's how significant of an issue all this stuff is to them. (or perhaps it was better to silence some of them)

Links for the various stories or FDA sites on this stuff:

Execution of “FDA” official, cough syrup problem: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8Q9JE9G0&show_article=1

Chinese Shrimp problem http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01660.html

FAQ on the Seafood problem http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/seadwpe.html

Vitamins and additives article http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003732744_vitamins03.html

FDA's Seafood page: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/seafood1.html

Complicating the issue, there is also a U.S. problem with melamine in shrimp. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01643.html

NE

ps This was originally posted by me at the "USA" board, but I wanted to make sure this message gets out. I won't spam it around, but this is the more active board from what I see.